Godthul & Grytviken, South Georgia
After we spent the night at anchor at Jason Harbour, we traveled in the early morning along an alley of ice-bergs off the southern coast of South Georgia. Jason Harbour is named after the ship Jason, which Captain C. A. Larsen took south to Antarctica in 1892-94 to look for opportunities for whaling.
Of course, we also looked for whales, but did not spot any today, although both killer and southern right whales have been sighted the last few days. Our captain and his officers took the Endeavour in to a well-sheltered bay, Godthul. The bay was cluttered by icebergs inside this almost amphitheater-shaped geological formation and all the bergs are most likely remains from the huge calving much further south of the Larsen Ice-shelf on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The place name Godthul dates back to the period of intense whaling in the waters surrounding South Georgia, which were mainly manned by hard folks from Norway.
A factory ship was moored in the bay and whales were brought in by the catchers. Here, they had three important conditions for a successful operation: whales in big numbers, a harbour that was protected and sheltered from the violent Southern Ocean and also a supply of fresh water. Remember this is still in the times of steam engines around 1910!
At Godthul we were able to land near the site the whalers used for storage. Some water boats on the beach and a large number of metal barrels were witness of the previous activities. Some of us made the hike up the slopes, but we also had time for a magical ice cruise. Rarely do we get such an offer outside the Antarctic Peninsula!
The afternoon was spent at Grytviken (Pot Cove), the first whaling station built at South Georgia and opened November 16, 1904, almost exactly 100 years ago to the day. Again the name Larsen appears! Grytviken is named by the Swedish scientific party who was onboard the ship Antarctica to visit South Georgia in 1902. As they explored the area in Cumberland Bay they found remains from previous sealer expeditions, probably dating back to about 1820.
Nowadays, this is the center for the British BAS (British Antarctic Survey) research station and also the place to meet the officials from the South Georgia Government. South Georgia is one of the British Over Sea Territories and the Governor of the Falkland Islands, in Port Stanley, is also the commissioner for South Georgia.
We started our outing by a visit to the grave of “the Boss” and as we gathered by his grave stone, our bartender Anders passed out some rum for a toast. Especially our trekker team saw this as the end of the strenuous “hike” across South Georgia they just finished, which followed the track of three hardy men who made it in 36 hours May 1916, that is Crean, Worsley and “the Boss” between King Haakon Bay to Stromness whaling station.
We later went to the interesting and magnificent museum. Not only the natural history is displayed here, but we also were able to learn a lot about the human history.
It was James Cook on the ship Resolution, together with the Forster’s and Sparrman who first landed at South Georgia January 17, 1774, at Possession Bay. We have heard names of several Antarctic explorers, like Bellinghausen, Weddell, Palmer, Scott, Nordenskjöld, Drygalski, Charcot, Amundsen... still the name which stands out to have most impact on the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean surrounding the continent Antarctica is by far the Norwegian Carl Anton Larsen.
He learned his skill about polar regions as he served many sealers in Vestisen along the eastern Greenland and later whale catchers in the Barents Sea. He later ventured the south in the years 1892-94 to explore and look for right whales around Antarctica. The technique was not yet fully developed for catching the large rorqual whales. Instead, Larsen became the captain on the ship Antarctica which took Nordenskjöld south to winter, 1901-1904, at Snow Hill on the eastern side of Antarctic Peninsula. Well, this is a long story which we don’t have time for here, but it turned out to be one of the more amazing survival stories during the Heroic age of Polar exploration.
As the ship Antarctica left the Nordenskjöld winter expedition in February, 1902, it set sail to explore South Georgia. It was during this stay Larsen saw the possibilities to establish a land-based whaling station at Grytviken since the waters off the island were steaming with whales. Larsen not only established the shore-based whaling in Antarctic waters. He in fact died during the first attempts to run a full-scale whale factory ship down towards the Ross Sea in December, 1925. All together you will find 12 place names below the Convergence tied to this remarkable man who unfortunately was extremely skilled and forced the whales almost to extinction.
Grytviken is still a magical place and every time the ship Endeavour arrives, many of the staff from BAS come out to our ship, meet with our guests, and present their insight about this remarkable island. We also learned today that the ship Endeavour, together with the former Lindblad Explorer now are featured on official South Georgia postage stamps!
After we spent the night at anchor at Jason Harbour, we traveled in the early morning along an alley of ice-bergs off the southern coast of South Georgia. Jason Harbour is named after the ship Jason, which Captain C. A. Larsen took south to Antarctica in 1892-94 to look for opportunities for whaling.
Of course, we also looked for whales, but did not spot any today, although both killer and southern right whales have been sighted the last few days. Our captain and his officers took the Endeavour in to a well-sheltered bay, Godthul. The bay was cluttered by icebergs inside this almost amphitheater-shaped geological formation and all the bergs are most likely remains from the huge calving much further south of the Larsen Ice-shelf on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The place name Godthul dates back to the period of intense whaling in the waters surrounding South Georgia, which were mainly manned by hard folks from Norway.
A factory ship was moored in the bay and whales were brought in by the catchers. Here, they had three important conditions for a successful operation: whales in big numbers, a harbour that was protected and sheltered from the violent Southern Ocean and also a supply of fresh water. Remember this is still in the times of steam engines around 1910!
At Godthul we were able to land near the site the whalers used for storage. Some water boats on the beach and a large number of metal barrels were witness of the previous activities. Some of us made the hike up the slopes, but we also had time for a magical ice cruise. Rarely do we get such an offer outside the Antarctic Peninsula!
The afternoon was spent at Grytviken (Pot Cove), the first whaling station built at South Georgia and opened November 16, 1904, almost exactly 100 years ago to the day. Again the name Larsen appears! Grytviken is named by the Swedish scientific party who was onboard the ship Antarctica to visit South Georgia in 1902. As they explored the area in Cumberland Bay they found remains from previous sealer expeditions, probably dating back to about 1820.
Nowadays, this is the center for the British BAS (British Antarctic Survey) research station and also the place to meet the officials from the South Georgia Government. South Georgia is one of the British Over Sea Territories and the Governor of the Falkland Islands, in Port Stanley, is also the commissioner for South Georgia.
We started our outing by a visit to the grave of “the Boss” and as we gathered by his grave stone, our bartender Anders passed out some rum for a toast. Especially our trekker team saw this as the end of the strenuous “hike” across South Georgia they just finished, which followed the track of three hardy men who made it in 36 hours May 1916, that is Crean, Worsley and “the Boss” between King Haakon Bay to Stromness whaling station.
We later went to the interesting and magnificent museum. Not only the natural history is displayed here, but we also were able to learn a lot about the human history.
It was James Cook on the ship Resolution, together with the Forster’s and Sparrman who first landed at South Georgia January 17, 1774, at Possession Bay. We have heard names of several Antarctic explorers, like Bellinghausen, Weddell, Palmer, Scott, Nordenskjöld, Drygalski, Charcot, Amundsen... still the name which stands out to have most impact on the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean surrounding the continent Antarctica is by far the Norwegian Carl Anton Larsen.
He learned his skill about polar regions as he served many sealers in Vestisen along the eastern Greenland and later whale catchers in the Barents Sea. He later ventured the south in the years 1892-94 to explore and look for right whales around Antarctica. The technique was not yet fully developed for catching the large rorqual whales. Instead, Larsen became the captain on the ship Antarctica which took Nordenskjöld south to winter, 1901-1904, at Snow Hill on the eastern side of Antarctic Peninsula. Well, this is a long story which we don’t have time for here, but it turned out to be one of the more amazing survival stories during the Heroic age of Polar exploration.
As the ship Antarctica left the Nordenskjöld winter expedition in February, 1902, it set sail to explore South Georgia. It was during this stay Larsen saw the possibilities to establish a land-based whaling station at Grytviken since the waters off the island were steaming with whales. Larsen not only established the shore-based whaling in Antarctic waters. He in fact died during the first attempts to run a full-scale whale factory ship down towards the Ross Sea in December, 1925. All together you will find 12 place names below the Convergence tied to this remarkable man who unfortunately was extremely skilled and forced the whales almost to extinction.
Grytviken is still a magical place and every time the ship Endeavour arrives, many of the staff from BAS come out to our ship, meet with our guests, and present their insight about this remarkable island. We also learned today that the ship Endeavour, together with the former Lindblad Explorer now are featured on official South Georgia postage stamps!
